What types of food do great white sharks eat?

A:

Quick Answer

Great white sharks are carnivores, meaning that they only eat meat. Food items on a mature great white shark's menu include sea lions, smaller whales, seals, sea turtles and otters, whereas younger sharks hunt smaller fish and rays. Great white sharks also eat carrion and even other sharks.

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The body of a great white shark helps the creatures to locate, pursue and kill its prey. Its sense of smell is particularly powerful, and the shark uses it to pick up electric charges from its prey. The great white shark's sense of smell is so powerful that it can detect a drop of blood in 25 gallons of water. Its eyesight and hearing is not as keen.

A large sharks can possess 3,000 teeth, which it uses to grab and rip up its prey. Great white sharks do not chew their food, but rather swallow whole chunks.

Despite their bad reputation, great white sharks are not normally a threat to humans, and most attacks are not fatal. Humans are not a preferred food item for the creatures, so after mindlessly biting an unfortunate individual, the sharks often let go. They are known to experiment on a creature by biting it before knowing whether they want to eat it.